Join The Saratoga Special Readers Club for exclusive access to news, swag, discounts, special events and more
Tom Law 
Millions poured into Aintree Racecourse Saturday to watch Tiger Roll try for his third straight Grand National … the Virtual Grand National that is. While the real Grand National had to be canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions, more than 4.8 million viewers tuned into (from the couch, not the course) the virtual edition on ITV Saturday afternoon.
Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz the Law, winner of last year’s Grade 1 Champagne and a major player on the road to the 2020 Triple Crown, was named New York-bred Horse of the Year and champion 2-year-old male Monday by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc.
And then there were three. At least here in the U.S., we’re down to three racetracks with scheduled Saturday cards – Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs in Florida and Oaklawn Park in Arkansas.
Kurt Becker likes his spring routine. He’s honed it for more than two decades as Keeneland’s track announcer – its only announcer, sans a short stretch early in his tenure – and like everyone across the country saw it thrown off kilter in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Kiaran McLaughlin changed direction last week, ending a successful two-plus-decade run as one of the country’s leading trainers to return to work as a jockey’s agent for Luis Saez.
Thoroughbred Charities of America’s Horses First Fund is providing funding to backstretch and aftercare organizations working to support the Thoroughbred community amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s no secret the world has turned upside down the past month. But for those who remember a gutsy gelding accompanied to the track by a former jockey and a literal bus full of owners, this year comfortingly also feels like a blast from the past.
Tip of the cap to the people keeping the game rolling along during these supremely trying times. Regardless of whether it should or shouldn’t be going on – we’ll leave those decisions to folks more in the know – the show goes on and it’s Florida Derby Day in South Florida.
Already a clear leader in the trainer standings at Fair Grounds going into Saturday’s card, Brad Cox cemented his fourth consecutive title with a graded-stakes treble only hours after horsemen were told the meet was closing a week early.
Where should we start? Yesterday, today, tomorrow, that seems almost like an impossible question to answer given the ever-changing world we live in thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic.
